Mickadeit: Joe gets back in his store, sort of

Jan. 31, 2013

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

1 of 1

The El Toro Carcineria on West First Street in Santa Ana brings in about $1.7 million a month. The family that built the business has been removed from day-to-day operations. FRANK MICKADEIT, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

The El Toro Carcineria on West First Street in Santa Ana brings in about $1.7 million a month. The family that built the business has been removed from day-to-day operations. FRANK MICKADEIT, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Thursday:Joe Bonilla sues his brothers to win his share of the venerable El Toro Carniceria family business in Santa Ana. He also wins $3.3 million for the years his brothers refused to pay him. But irregularities are discovered.

The trial in 2010 and 2011 exposed a lot of problems with El Toro, including Joe's brothers taking millions of dollars in cash out of the business without declaring it. Rather than immediately hand El Toro to Joe (who was going to buy out his brothers' majority interest), Judge Gregory Lewis put in place a receiver to conduct an orderly transition. On Sept. 6, 2011, he appointed Bellann Raile of Cordes & Co. of Newport Beach.

A few months into it, Raile asked Joe back to El Toro to help with the Christmas rush and to start the transition. Legally, she was still in charge. Joe stayed on into January, all the time irritated because he believed Raile and the people she installed didn't know how to run a business with Mexican American employees and clientele. Her on-site manager, Joe pointed out, didn't even speak Spanish. Joe felt it was time for Raile to leave.

Joe's attorney, Ray Brown, however, disagreed. Joe fired Brown – who was still owed at least $900,000 – and hired a new attorney, Craig Williams.

Then Joe stepped into it with the judge. It appears up to this point – reading between the lines of some of the more than 1,000 documents filed in this case – Joe had been on his good side.

But in late January, Joe opened the El Toro safe and took $67,500 in cash. According to the receiver's attorney, Michael Reynolds, Joe also changed the locks and when confronted by Raile yelled at her that it was his business.

No question Joe took the money. He moved $50,000 to a safe in a warehouse across the street and the other $17,500 he used to pay Williams and an accountant, both of whom he said he was authorized to hire. Raile says Joe did not have permission to remove any money.

The matter went before Judge Lewis on Feb. 7, 2012. He was not pleased. "Shocked" was the word he used. He advised Joe not to say anything that might incriminate himself and ordered Raile to make a police report. He ordered Joe not to set foot within 300 yards of El Toro and ordered all the money to be returned, including Williams' retainer.

Then the judge really lowered the boom. Williams had been planning to formally ask Lewis to remove the receiver. Don't bother, the judge said. The receiver would remain in place, he said, to ensure that creditors who were owed millions were paid.

"Otherwise, the money is taken from the tills," Lewis said. "It's not accounted for. It's basically just taking money without authorization. You call it what you want." Having advised Joe twice about his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself, it was pretty clear what the judge was calling it.

Joe told me that had he been allowed to speak, he would have said that subordinates of Raile's did give him permission. He said he took $50,000 so the check-cashing arm of the operation could do business. He put the bundles of cash in a paper bag and walked it across the street, even though the check-cashing business was adjacent to the store. That doesn't look good, I told Joe.

He replied that he moved it because Raile – or her people – were taking money out of the business for expenses he didn't agree with and he wanted to make sure it got to the right managers when they needed it. He said he gave it to them within a day – before he was ever required to.

"They turn around and try to say I stole $50,000. She knew I was using it for the El Toro market."

Joe has not set foot in the store in a year and says he has received no profits, even though financial statements show the operation was doing about $1.7 million a month with an average of $120,000 in ordinary profit – that is, profit before Raile and Reynolds take their fees. Those fees averaged $55,000 a month in the latter part of 2012, about 46 percent of the profits.

Joe says the fees Raile is getting should be going to the Bonillas and their creditors. Raile's attorney says the store's track record shows the brothers can't be trusted to manage it.

Saturday: Joe's last-ditch effort.

Mickadeit writes Mon.-Fri. Contact him at 714-796-4994 or fmickadeit@ocregister.com.

User Agreement

Keep it civil and stay on topic. No profanity, vulgarity, racial
slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about
tragedies will be blocked. By posting your comment, you agree to
allow Orange County Register Communications, Inc. the right to
republish your name and comment in additional Register publications
without any notification or payment.